Working in Germany: Why choosing to start as an AuPair in Germany can lead to a successful path in the German job market

You would like to work in Germany?

Many people would like to work in Germany. Much fail to actually achieve doing it eventually. I have discovered a way that could help you get a foot into the German job market in a way that would not overwhelm and exhaust you. In the course of this blog article, I would like to take you on the journey of what it takes to set the foundation to successfully live and work in Germany.

Learning German has to be on top of your to-do list

From my experience, Germany is a country that requires a certain local language level to succeed. Unless you cannot communicate in German sufficiently, and with sufficiently I mean at least B2, language level – I would not recommend you to apply for a job in Germany. Why? There are certainly a bunch of jobs that do not require German skills. And there are especially office jobs that can be done solely in English. But if you are the type of person that is interested in having a more in-depth experience of life and work in Germany, then learning German has to be on top of your to-do list. Learning the language and being able to communicate in German is the foundation for everything else that follows.

➡️ TIPP: If you are at the very beginning, curiously picking your nose into German, I can highly recommend you to start of with the method of Paul Noble. Go for a walk with Paul in your ear and discover the first German words with ease and joy.

What is in it for you?

Germany boasts one of the largest and most stable economies in the world. According to their GDP data unveiled in the CEOWORLD Magazine (March 2024), Germany is not only the largest economy in Europe but ranks third after the US and China. It offers a wide range of job opportunities across various sectors, including engineering, manufacturing, finance, technology, and healthcare. Multiple employment benefits like vacation time, parental leave, healthcare coverage, and unemployment benefits are attractive to foreign workers.

So yes, it could be worth the adventure seeking job opportunities in Germany as well for you.

Why is it smart to be an Au Pair?

If you are under the age of 26, starting your career in Germany by being an Au Pair could be your secret to success.

As an Au Pair you would be living with a German host family, supporting and joining their everyday life. As an Au Pair you gain the opportunity to practice German every day. It is the best language booster ever! Better than any language course could do.

You bring yourself into a position of daily learning. Inevitable.

And you are not only gaining German skills, you are actively training to live in Germany. On the one hand, it can serve you as a kind of trial phase where you can check out whether you would really like to proceed to live and work in Germany eventually and on the other hand, you train yourself to cope with life situations in Germany while having the support of your host family in your back.

It is hence wickedly smart to set the foundation of language and life training in Germany by doing an Au Pair year.

➡️ Got curious about becoming an Au Pair in Germany? Contact me and for an exclusive Zoom call and ask me all the questions that are on your mind.

Form follows function or job follows relationships

Diving into the German everyday life as an Au Pair will also support your initial relationships with Germans. You start off with your German host family, and may continue with neighbors and sport mates. Arriving and connecting to Germans as a single person or family in Germany can be a hard nut to crack. It is always helpful to have some contacts and people of support within the country already.

Your host family could support you in various topics of life also on your future path. If you like to proceed, your plan of working in Germany, your host family may stay a close point of contact with you. It is very recommendable to stay in the same city once your au pair time ended. By being an au pair, you have planted the seed of a having a social life in Germany from the very beginning.

Continue life and career in Germany

If you finished your Au-pair year, and you enjoyed it, you set the foundation to get involved more with working in Germany. You could, of course, directly continue to seek job opportunities, or you learn more about other interesting options like doing an “Ausbildung” in Germany, which the vocational training in Germany is called.

Doing an “Ausbildung” could be the perfect next step to proceed your way of working in Germany. It is much easier to get an interview for a vocational training, and same as with your Au-Pair year, you are again training for the future. You step onto the next level of language training as well as learning on the job. You are attending school again, studying with other German classmates, while at the same time learning on the job in a company while exploring how it feels like to work with German colleagues. This surrounding allows you to discover the professional side of German life with much more ease, since in a training environment you are not only free to ask any kind of question, you are also expected to do so. If you think this could be interesting to you, you might check out my article about what a vocational training in Germany is all about.

Conclusion:

Starting off in Germany as an Au-Pair can be extremely helpful if you aim to live and work in Germany.

➡️ Useful German vocabulary in the above context:

• Ausbildung = vocational training
• Ausbildungsberuf = vocational job
• Beruf = job
• Arbeitsmarkt = job market
• Bewerbung = application
• Bewerbungsgespräch or Vorstellungsgepräch = job interview
• Bewerbungsunterlagen = application documents
• Einladung zum Vorstellungsgespräch = invitation for a job interview
• Gastfamilie = host family
• Unterstützung = support
• deutsch = German
• Familie = family
• zusammen leben = living together
• Alltag = everyday life
• lernen = learning